Just like the styles of teaching we just learned about: Pragmatism and Existentialism everything is starting to become more student centered, compared to teacher centered. In our presentation we did about integrated curriculum we talked about how classrooms are starting to pull from multiple disciplines, and integrate themes around concepts. This is all so students can conceptualize ideas better and apply it directly to their schoolwork and the standards they are trying to attain. You also see this shift in MLR as well as Proficiency based education, how it is more about the student and less about the teacher pushing their ideas. With trying to implement these changes, Maine is at a more unique position because of the smaller schools, and smaller class sizes. Although smaller, there are several other things that we have to phase out of schools that are hindering this progression. Master schedules are the first thing that have to go, in order to provide for creativity and allow students to be able to connect things to the real world, and learn for themselves, we need to get rid of their structured life of schedules, and allow more time for students and teachers to come together and collaborate. Another big challenge that the state of Maine specifically faces is adding more real life applications to the classrooms. The Maine Commission on Secondary Education stated that Maine schools generally "lack application to life" which obviously is a big problem. Overall the big takeaway from this article is that schools are constantly changing (for the better) and that teachers and administrators have to keep up with this progress in education in order to run more productive, student centered schools that focus on preparing their students for the future.
Laura
The biggest take-away I got from reading Promising Futures was the fact that education is constantly changing, and teachers and other school personnel must make ongoing efforts to keep up with the changes while meeting student needs. This is not to say that change in the school system is a bad thing; rather, it is a necessary thing. If we don’t change our practices to keep pace with the changing world around us and the changing needs of our students, teaching and learning becomes nearly ineffective. However, one of the greatest difficulties that prevents teachers from working with change instead of against it is that they are faced with more pressure and responsibilities than ever before. Also, the structure of many secondary schools is not conducive to the implementation of new and more effective practices. Promising Futures outlines core practices for learning and teaching and for school support, while also listing current practices that ought to be “phased out.” Essentially, changing our schools for the better requires everyone to put their best foot forward--teachers, administrators, parents, and students alike. Nonetheless, teachers should not use the excuse that many elements of school “reform” are “out of their control.” I know that as a teacher, it is my responsibility to do everything that I can to make my students’ learning experiences all the things that Maine schools seem to be lacking. According to the Maine Commission on Secondary Education, Maine schools have been found to be “academically focused but rarely exciting or challenging, social but strangely impersonal and sometimes hostile, orderly but ill-suited for learning, predictable but lacking application to life... these schools do not support all young people in attaining the skills and knowledge described by the MLR” (3). This is not a statement that a teacher wants to hear--it is clear that there is plenty of room for improvement within our schools, even if we are doing better than other states. If anything, this document inspires me to be a teacher that is innovative, inclusive, and prepared to enter a system that is on the cusp of a positive transformation.
Marissa
This document does a great job of highlighting how education is undergoing a revolution in terms of philosophy and learning goals. Traditionally schools have been very teacher centered with teachers imparting their very content specific body of knowledge on students in short, uniform, and lecture based learning periods. What we are seeing now with proficiency based education and the Maine Learning Results is a shift toward student centered learning. In this model students are exploratory and have freedom, choice, and ownership of their learning goals. I see this as a shift from a left-brain way of thinking, learning, and teaching, to the right-brain model of the conceptual age. As technology continues to develop and change the demands of the world, students need to be able to think critically and connect to content. We no longer need students (or workers) who can regurgitate facts and make computations we need innovators and problem solvers. These are not skills that students can gain through such linear instruction of facts.
While the changes that are coming to education can seem daunting and impossible this document makes the excellent observation that we in Maine are relatively well equipped to take on these transformations. Unlike states that face overcrowding many Maine schools have the sometimes-disguised luxury of small schools and class sizes. This means that schools have more freedom to be innovative and try new things. We can more easily involve students, parents, and community members because we are dealing with relatively small numbers. Although being a small school can sometimes mean that resources are lacking, smart, informed decisions regarding change can improve the school while also being financially responsible and conservative. Schools need people (teachers and otherwise) who are willing to innovate both in terms of curriculum and budget to make bold changes to meet the learning needs of all students while also making the best of the resources available.
Costa
I enjoyed reading Promising Futures because I largely found myself in agreement with the core teaching and learning practices. What I didn’t enjoy so much, was seeing how the observations and challenges of teaching from nearly twenty years ago have not changed much today, in my experience. One of my favorite parts of the text, was the section that listed the practices we should be phasing out of schools, the first of which being master schedules. I think Maine as a state is in a unique position, with a relatively small youth population, to make significant changes to our educational structures. I would like to see more flexible schedules, which allow for integrated projects, that are guided by multiple teachers from different content areas. One thing I noticed in the text, was the amount of duties some teachers are performing, which they are not responsible for. I feel as though this a good opportunity for new, lower-qualifying jobs to be created. Unfortunately, the reality is that these progressive and creative changes to education require funding, both for planning and implementation. With our state and nation budgeting so little for education, it’s hard to keep some schools running as it is, let alone make quality changes. With that in mind, I did find some optimism in the section “Secondary Schools Cannot Go it Alone.” It’s easy to find like-minded individuals within a school who also want to improve and revise school practices, but it often takes collaboration with others outside the education system to make those changes happen.
Mike
Going through this piece, I found I agreed with a few different philosophies whether it was the whole philosophy or bits and pieces. Looking at my philosophy, I tended to look at philosophies that looked to expand the students thinking, make them ask questions through experience.
The first philosophy I really connected with was Jesus's Philosophy of Education. He wanted to teach well and he wanted all students to learn well. "The didactic methods used by Jesus included: Lecture, reading from texts, storytelling, illustration, parallel sayings, and silence. His interactive methods included: conversation, discussion, question-answer panel. His activity methods were: object lesson, dramatics, demonstration, lavatory and topical research"(Jesus Philosophy). I believe to have a successful education where you come out being a positive contributor to society, you need to have different ways of interrupting information. By looking at lectures and trying to draw conclusions from the information, having conversations and a lot of illustrations. I believe that this method could be very successful. This is more student centered where the teacher is more of a guide. Storytelling can also be introduced in math lessons by looking at the history of the mathematicians or anything interesting.
Another philosophy I connected with was Pestalozzi's Philosophy of Education. He looked at the whole student and tried to stimulate senses with each concept. "Pestalozzi emphasized that learning had to be stimulated by the interests and motivation of the child, not by punishment or fear. Learning had to be completed at each stage before going on to the next". I believe that students should have a say in what they want to learn and how they want to learn it. We should be their to provided them with the tools and resources needed to obtain their learning goals they set. Students then could not move on until they reach their learning goals and I believe that is how math classrooms should be. Why let students continue onto a new topic if they have not obtained the skills needed to move on. That is just setting up students to fall into a bigger snowball than already. We need to be able to step back, help the student achieve goals by providing them with rich, engaging resources. I also don't believe in fear or punishment. That wont help the students learn. That will scare them to learn. Scaring them to learn will not let them explore the content, it will make them just do enough to get by.
There were many more philosophies that I agreed with but some that I did not agree with at all. With building my philosophy, it is good to read the philosophies that you don't agree with to see if they are making any points that are good and I can manipulate them in my own. I got a lot of information from reading these philosophies. You can see the changes over time periods of what was important to these teachers and what they thought would work, especially compared to my own.
Alaina
After reading the Promising Futures booklet I noticed a lot of parallels to my experience in high school. For starters, all grades in my high school were split into three sets of teams, each with around 80 students, 4 teachers of different subject areas, and a space to call their own. The communities that were established gave students an area to hangout in the morning, hold all of their things, and an area for the teachers to have team events. I found this way of high school very comfortable and welcoming. I had a core set of students that I knew pretty well, and a group of teachers I knew I could come to if I had any problems. On top of that, I felt involved in a community. This did wonders for myself and peers while trying to uncover ourselves. In my first two years of high school, you were generally on-team for all of your classes. I think that this was critical in helping with the transition of high school. Once an upperclassman, it was common for a lot of students to be taking classes "off-team" as they were either advanced level course, or ones that spoke to particular interests. This was a great opportunity to connect with other students in the school at a similar community level. Although my school partook in this format of education, I think that they could have used the inter-disciplinary approach much more. The system that we had was perfect for it, however I do not feel that this was utilized as well as it should have been. Another similarity I noticed in this text and my high school, was the use of the MLR guiding principles. These principles are what the MLR wants all students to graduate as (ex: self directed, lifelong learner). At the end of each school year we had to put together a portfolio of our work as students, and prove that we had met these guidelines. It wasn't until now that I realized that these were MLR guidelines, I had always thought they were created by the school. These portfolios showed your growth as a student, allowed you to set goals for the following year, and were presented to a panel of teachers, peers, and guardians. In essence, we were also proving that the teachers and schools were doing the job they set out to do. I also connected with the Promising Future's aim of connecting school to real life experiences. Personally, after reading this booklet, I realized that my school did a great job of this. By our freshman year we were job shadowing potential career fields, and by our sophomore year visiting a college or career site. On top of that, my school also had many different vocational programs that allowed students to expanded their learning. They could become registered CNAs, intern at the school's daycare, or gain experience in the culinary arts. Students could also be bussed out of the school for technical vocational programs. I think part of why I found school so meaningful was due to the amount of real life and post-graduation connections that were made. We had an entire physics day that focussed on impaired driving, had to engineer bridges to be tested, and also had to host mock court hearings. Some of the differences in this program, compared to that of my high school, was the rigidness of the team system. We had the ability to be flexible in the teachers we took classes from depending on our interests. For example, I really enjoyed my math teacher my freshman year. Therefore, I had the option to request her and continue having her through the rest of high school. Having this option to go off-team and stay with an educator I connected with was extremely important in terms of my success in math. The program outlined in the book made this seem a lot harder, however it promotes the strong relationships that are also desired in the book.
After reading this article as a future teacher, I see the importance and the reasoning behind the set-up of my school. I find it very convenient that the building was built in 2001, allowing for it to specifically be designed for this system. I also enjoy the amount of planning time this gives colleagues, along with support. If I were to teach in a system like this I could really see myself utilizing the interdisciplinary approach, or team teaching. In addition, entering into a school like this as a first-year teacher would be supportive for me. I would have a core set of colleagues to talk to about students and the struggles I am having. I couldn't imagine just being on my own as a teacher, and left to fend for myself. The school that I did my student teaching at was also very similar to this with teams of teachers and students. I truly love this learning approach and couldn't imagine teaching outside of it.
This document does a great job of highlighting how education is undergoing a revolution in terms of philosophy and learning goals. Traditionally schools have been very teacher centered with teachers imparting their very content specific body of knowledge on students in short, uniform, and lecture based learning periods. What we are seeing now with proficiency based education and the Maine Learning Results is a shift toward student centered learning. In this model students are exploratory and have freedom, choice, and ownership of their learning goals. I see this as a shift from a left-brain way of thinking, learning, and teaching, to the right-brain model of the conceptual age. As technology continues to develop and change the demands of the world, students need to be able to think critically and connect to content. We no longer need students (or workers) who can regurgitate facts and make computations we need innovators and problem solvers. These are not skills that students can gain through such linear instruction of facts. While the changes that are coming to education can seem daunting and impossible this document makes the excellent observation that we in Maine are relatively well equipped to take on these transformations. Unlike states that face overcrowding many Maine schools have the sometimes-disguised luxury of small schools and class sizes. This means that schools have more freedom to be innovative and try new things. We can more easily involve students, parents, and community members because we are dealing with relatively small numbers. Although being a small school can sometimes mean that resources are lacking, smart, informed decisions regarding change can improve the school while also being financially responsible and conservative. Schools need people (teachers and otherwise) who are willing to innovate both in terms of curriculum and budget to make bold changes to meet the learning needs of all students while also making the best of the resources available.
Table of Contents
Synthesis:
Just like the styles of teaching we just learned about: Pragmatism and Existentialism everything is starting to become more student centered, compared to teacher centered. In our presentation we did about integrated curriculum we talked about how classrooms are starting to pull from multiple disciplines, and integrate themes around concepts. This is all so students can conceptualize ideas better and apply it directly to their schoolwork and the standards they are trying to attain. You also see this shift in MLR as well as Proficiency based education, how it is more about the student and less about the teacher pushing their ideas. With trying to implement these changes, Maine is at a more unique position because of the smaller schools, and smaller class sizes. Although smaller, there are several other things that we have to phase out of schools that are hindering this progression. Master schedules are the first thing that have to go, in order to provide for creativity and allow students to be able to connect things to the real world, and learn for themselves, we need to get rid of their structured life of schedules, and allow more time for students and teachers to come together and collaborate. Another big challenge that the state of Maine specifically faces is adding more real life applications to the classrooms. The Maine Commission on Secondary Education stated that Maine schools generally "lack application to life" which obviously is a big problem. Overall the big takeaway from this article is that schools are constantly changing (for the better) and that teachers and administrators have to keep up with this progress in education in order to run more productive, student centered schools that focus on preparing their students for the future.Laura
The biggest take-away I got from reading Promising Futures was the fact that education is constantly changing, and teachers and other school personnel must make ongoing efforts to keep up with the changes while meeting student needs. This is not to say that change in the school system is a bad thing; rather, it is a necessary thing. If we don’t change our practices to keep pace with the changing world around us and the changing needs of our students, teaching and learning becomes nearly ineffective. However, one of the greatest difficulties that prevents teachers from working with change instead of against it is that they are faced with more pressure and responsibilities than ever before. Also, the structure of many secondary schools is not conducive to the implementation of new and more effective practices. Promising Futures outlines core practices for learning and teaching and for school support, while also listing current practices that ought to be “phased out.” Essentially, changing our schools for the better requires everyone to put their best foot forward--teachers, administrators, parents, and students alike. Nonetheless, teachers should not use the excuse that many elements of school “reform” are “out of their control.” I know that as a teacher, it is my responsibility to do everything that I can to make my students’ learning experiences all the things that Maine schools seem to be lacking. According to the Maine Commission on Secondary Education, Maine schools have been found to be “academically focused but rarely exciting or challenging, social but strangely impersonal and sometimes hostile, orderly but ill-suited for learning, predictable but lacking application to life... these schools do not support all young people in attaining the skills and knowledge described by the MLR” (3). This is not a statement that a teacher wants to hear--it is clear that there is plenty of room for improvement within our schools, even if we are doing better than other states. If anything, this document inspires me to be a teacher that is innovative, inclusive, and prepared to enter a system that is on the cusp of a positive transformation.Marissa
This document does a great job of highlighting how education is undergoing a revolution in terms of philosophy and learning goals. Traditionally schools have been very teacher centered with teachers imparting their very content specific body of knowledge on students in short, uniform, and lecture based learning periods. What we are seeing now with proficiency based education and the Maine Learning Results is a shift toward student centered learning. In this model students are exploratory and have freedom, choice, and ownership of their learning goals. I see this as a shift from a left-brain way of thinking, learning, and teaching, to the right-brain model of the conceptual age. As technology continues to develop and change the demands of the world, students need to be able to think critically and connect to content. We no longer need students (or workers) who can regurgitate facts and make computations we need innovators and problem solvers. These are not skills that students can gain through such linear instruction of facts.While the changes that are coming to education can seem daunting and impossible this document makes the excellent observation that we in Maine are relatively well equipped to take on these transformations. Unlike states that face overcrowding many Maine schools have the sometimes-disguised luxury of small schools and class sizes. This means that schools have more freedom to be innovative and try new things. We can more easily involve students, parents, and community members because we are dealing with relatively small numbers. Although being a small school can sometimes mean that resources are lacking, smart, informed decisions regarding change can improve the school while also being financially responsible and conservative. Schools need people (teachers and otherwise) who are willing to innovate both in terms of curriculum and budget to make bold changes to meet the learning needs of all students while also making the best of the resources available.
Costa
I enjoyed reading Promising Futures because I largely found myself in agreement with the core teaching and learning practices. What I didn’t enjoy so much, was seeing how the observations and challenges of teaching from nearly twenty years ago have not changed much today, in my experience. One of my favorite parts of the text, was the section that listed the practices we should be phasing out of schools, the first of which being master schedules. I think Maine as a state is in a unique position, with a relatively small youth population, to make significant changes to our educational structures. I would like to see more flexible schedules, which allow for integrated projects, that are guided by multiple teachers from different content areas. One thing I noticed in the text, was the amount of duties some teachers are performing, which they are not responsible for. I feel as though this a good opportunity for new, lower-qualifying jobs to be created. Unfortunately, the reality is that these progressive and creative changes to education require funding, both for planning and implementation. With our state and nation budgeting so little for education, it’s hard to keep some schools running as it is, let alone make quality changes. With that in mind, I did find some optimism in the section “Secondary Schools Cannot Go it Alone.” It’s easy to find like-minded individuals within a school who also want to improve and revise school practices, but it often takes collaboration with others outside the education system to make those changes happen.Mike
Going through this piece, I found I agreed with a few different philosophies whether it was the whole philosophy or bits and pieces. Looking at my philosophy, I tended to look at philosophies that looked to expand the students thinking, make them ask questions through experience.
The first philosophy I really connected with was Jesus's Philosophy of Education. He wanted to teach well and he wanted all students to learn well. "The didactic methods used by Jesus included: Lecture, reading from texts, storytelling, illustration, parallel sayings, and silence. His interactive methods included: conversation, discussion, question-answer panel. His activity methods were: object lesson, dramatics, demonstration, lavatory and topical research"(Jesus Philosophy). I believe to have a successful education where you come out being a positive contributor to society, you need to have different ways of interrupting information. By looking at lectures and trying to draw conclusions from the information, having conversations and a lot of illustrations. I believe that this method could be very successful. This is more student centered where the teacher is more of a guide. Storytelling can also be introduced in math lessons by looking at the history of the mathematicians or anything interesting.
Another philosophy I connected with was Pestalozzi's Philosophy of Education. He looked at the whole student and tried to stimulate senses with each concept. "Pestalozzi emphasized that learning had to be stimulated by the interests and motivation of the child, not by punishment or fear. Learning had to be completed at each stage before going on to the next". I believe that students should have a say in what they want to learn and how they want to learn it. We should be their to provided them with the tools and resources needed to obtain their learning goals they set. Students then could not move on until they reach their learning goals and I believe that is how math classrooms should be. Why let students continue onto a new topic if they have not obtained the skills needed to move on. That is just setting up students to fall into a bigger snowball than already. We need to be able to step back, help the student achieve goals by providing them with rich, engaging resources. I also don't believe in fear or punishment. That wont help the students learn. That will scare them to learn. Scaring them to learn will not let them explore the content, it will make them just do enough to get by.
There were many more philosophies that I agreed with but some that I did not agree with at all. With building my philosophy, it is good to read the philosophies that you don't agree with to see if they are making any points that are good and I can manipulate them in my own. I got a lot of information from reading these philosophies. You can see the changes over time periods of what was important to these teachers and what they thought would work, especially compared to my own.
Alaina
After reading the Promising Futures booklet I noticed a lot of parallels to my experience in high school. For starters, all grades in my high school were split into three sets of teams, each with around 80 students, 4 teachers of different subject areas, and a space to call their own. The communities that were established gave students an area to hangout in the morning, hold all of their things, and an area for the teachers to have team events. I found this way of high school very comfortable and welcoming. I had a core set of students that I knew pretty well, and a group of teachers I knew I could come to if I had any problems. On top of that, I felt involved in a community. This did wonders for myself and peers while trying to uncover ourselves. In my first two years of high school, you were generally on-team for all of your classes. I think that this was critical in helping with the transition of high school. Once an upperclassman, it was common for a lot of students to be taking classes "off-team" as they were either advanced level course, or ones that spoke to particular interests. This was a great opportunity to connect with other students in the school at a similar community level. Although my school partook in this format of education, I think that they could have used the inter-disciplinary approach much more. The system that we had was perfect for it, however I do not feel that this was utilized as well as it should have been.
Another similarity I noticed in this text and my high school, was the use of the MLR guiding principles. These principles are what the MLR wants all students to graduate as (ex: self directed, lifelong learner). At the end of each school year we had to put together a portfolio of our work as students, and prove that we had met these guidelines. It wasn't until now that I realized that these were MLR guidelines, I had always thought they were created by the school. These portfolios showed your growth as a student, allowed you to set goals for the following year, and were presented to a panel of teachers, peers, and guardians. In essence, we were also proving that the teachers and schools were doing the job they set out to do.
I also connected with the Promising Future's aim of connecting school to real life experiences. Personally, after reading this booklet, I realized that my school did a great job of this. By our freshman year we were job shadowing potential career fields, and by our sophomore year visiting a college or career site. On top of that, my school also had many different vocational programs that allowed students to expanded their learning. They could become registered CNAs, intern at the school's daycare, or gain experience in the culinary arts. Students could also be bussed out of the school for technical vocational programs. I think part of why I found school so meaningful was due to the amount of real life and post-graduation connections that were made. We had an entire physics day that focussed on impaired driving, had to engineer bridges to be tested, and also had to host mock court hearings.
Some of the differences in this program, compared to that of my high school, was the rigidness of the team system. We had the ability to be flexible in the teachers we took classes from depending on our interests. For example, I really enjoyed my math teacher my freshman year. Therefore, I had the option to request her and continue having her through the rest of high school. Having this option to go off-team and stay with an educator I connected with was extremely important in terms of my success in math. The program outlined in the book made this seem a lot harder, however it promotes the strong relationships that are also desired in the book.
After reading this article as a future teacher, I see the importance and the reasoning behind the set-up of my school. I find it very convenient that the building was built in 2001, allowing for it to specifically be designed for this system. I also enjoy the amount of planning time this gives colleagues, along with support. If I were to teach in a system like this I could really see myself utilizing the interdisciplinary approach, or team teaching. In addition, entering into a school like this as a first-year teacher would be supportive for me. I would have a core set of colleagues to talk to about students and the struggles I am having. I couldn't imagine just being on my own as a teacher, and left to fend for myself. The school that I did my student teaching at was also very similar to this with teams of teachers and students. I truly love this learning approach and couldn't imagine teaching outside of it.
This document does a great job of highlighting how education is undergoing a revolution in terms of philosophy and learning goals. Traditionally schools have been very teacher centered with teachers imparting their very content specific body of knowledge on students in short, uniform, and lecture based learning periods. What we are seeing now with proficiency based education and the Maine Learning Results is a shift toward student centered learning. In this model students are exploratory and have freedom, choice, and ownership of their learning goals. I see this as a shift from a left-brain way of thinking, learning, and teaching, to the right-brain model of the conceptual age. As technology continues to develop and change the demands of the world, students need to be able to think critically and connect to content. We no longer need students (or workers) who can regurgitate facts and make computations we need innovators and problem solvers. These are not skills that students can gain through such linear instruction of facts.
While the changes that are coming to education can seem daunting and impossible this document makes the excellent observation that we in Maine are relatively well equipped to take on these transformations. Unlike states that face overcrowding many Maine schools have the sometimes-disguised luxury of small schools and class sizes. This means that schools have more freedom to be innovative and try new things. We can more easily involve students, parents, and community members because we are dealing with relatively small numbers. Although being a small school can sometimes mean that resources are lacking, smart, informed decisions regarding change can improve the school while also being financially responsible and conservative. Schools need people (teachers and otherwise) who are willing to innovate both in terms of curriculum and budget to make bold changes to meet the learning needs of all students while also making the best of the resources available.